Sept. 10, 2023, general meeting
(in three parts)
May 14, 2023, general meeting
(in two parts)
April 2, 2023, general meeting
January 22,2023 inaugural meeting
Report from the inaugural meeting of Oberlin Progressive Alumni*:
(*Just a possible name. A volunteer for the steering committee, Bob Kuttner ’65, suggests calling it Alumni for Oberlin Values.)
94 people attended the meeting! We don’t have a recording of the meeting to share because most of it was spent with participants broken out in small groups discussing these questions:
- What are your top two concerns about Oberlin? (A long and wide list of concerns maybe best captured by this note from one of the discussion groups: Oberlin is betraying its historic values, especially in regard to transparency, intellectual honesty, and commitment to social justice.)
- What could this new organization accomplish in the next year to make this effort worth continuing? (Another long list, including the possibilities of producing a regular newsletter, researching issues of concern, hiring an organizer, hosting an on-campus event, and running trustee candidates.)
What’s Next?
The clear conclusion from the meeting is that there seems to be more than enough interest and energy to form an organization. Now we need people wiling to step up and make that happen! The first step is to form a steering committee. Are you willing to serve? Do you know an alum who might be willing to?
What will that entail? It’s hard to say because this is a new organization. Apologies for the tautology, but steering committee members will need to meet to decide what being a steering committee member will mean, how often they’ll meet, etc. They’ll also need to decide how to make decisions, how and when to get alumni input, and propose a structure and initial goals, guided by detailed notes from the discussions at the meeting. If you even think you’re interested, raise your hand and come to the first SC meeting. (We’ll set up a poll to decide the date.)